


do you like or like, like me?

by cosetties



Category: SKAM (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Flirting, M/M, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-22
Updated: 2017-08-22
Packaged: 2018-12-18 14:29:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11876490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosetties/pseuds/cosetties
Summary: Isak is totally down for supporting Jonas through the whole liking boys thing, but it's a little hard when that boy is Even.





	do you like or like, like me?

**Author's Note:**

> idk!! what this is!! i just wanted to write a cute thing and y'all know how much i love miscommunication. anyway, ra training is over so i have a bit more time!! i promise i'm still working on my WIP! the word count total is around 22k rn, but i don't want to start posting more until i have the bulk of it finished. thank y'all for being patient ily
> 
> title from like or like like by miniature tigers.

Isak is still trying to figure out how much beer he can handle before he starts crying out his feelings—it’s been a long fucking week, okay—when Jonas scrambles into the seat next to him on the couch. His eyes are wide, his cheeks flushed, and his breathing heavy—so not typical Jonas at all. Isak is the dramatic one in this friendship, no matter how much he’ll deny it whenever any of the guys accuse him of such. Jonas is the chill one, the bro everyone can count on to offer a shoulder to cry on and some pretty great weed.

His head is too slow to catch on to the issue at hand. Finally, Jonas gets tired of waiting, and cuts to the chase.  “How do you flirt with boys?” he asks.

Isak squints at him. “Do you want to do it successfully? Because I may not be the right person to ask.” Isak’s gaydar is still a little off, Eskild blames it on years of repressing his gay. But that, combined with Isak’s limited conversational topics of cool bio facts and Narcos, neither of which are especially useful at conveying to men that he wants them to shove their tongues down his throat, makes it so going out is too depressing for him to do it regularly.

Jonas huffs, frustrated. “I just need a straight answer, man.”

“Why? Is there a boy _?”_ he says, super duper casually. But he can’t hide anything from Jonas—he’s known him far too long for that. Isak can’t contain his goofy smile. Jonas had come out to him as pansexual last month, but he hasn’t pursued anyone since then. Now, Isak can pass on the gay mantle, which for him, mostly consists of awkward boners and pining after guys he can’t have, but. Maybe Jonas will appreciate it anyway.  

Suddenly, a thought occurs to him. “Am I your guru?”

“What?”

“When I first came out, Eskild said he wanted to be my guru.”

Jonas rolls his eyes. “Isak, I doubt you could be anyone’s guru.”

Isak gasps. “What are you implying?”

“Dude, you only drank two beers, and you’re already shitfaced. You’re a mess.”

Isak waves the beers he’s double-fisting in Jonas’s face. “Nuh-uh. You haven’t hung out with me all night. This could be my tenth beer for all you know.” To make a point, Isak tries to take another swig out of the beer bottle, but it’s empty. It’s probably for the better, but Jonas’s smirk makes Isak roll his eyes. He’s super together, and super competent, and super sober. He’s so totally sober that he’s going to get up right now, and prove that he’s not a lightweight.

His ass hits the couch again five seconds later, and he considers it an accomplishment that he lasted that long.

Jonas hides his laughter behind a hand. “Never change, man.”

After a moment, Isak cracks a smile. “Fine. I suck. Tell me about this guy anyway.”

Jonas looks around the room slyly before turning back to Isak. “I met him at a poetry slam. I think he’s making a documentary on underground Oslo art for a film class, and we just got talking for a bit. He’s so fucking _smart,_ man, I didn’t even know people’s brains could work like that.”

Isak resists the urge to pull Jonas into a hug. He doesn’t think Jonas could react well to Isak whispering _I’m so glad you’re also a gay_ straight into his ear, and Isak doesn’t think he has the appropriate control over his limbs anyway. He doesn’t harbor any feelings for Jonas still, but his sixteen-year-old self would feel so validated. That kid deserved a break.

Isak forgoes the hug and instead clinks their beer bottles together in a mini-toast. “You’re good with girls. Flirting with guys isn’t any different.”

Jonas looks down at his hands. “But I _like_ him.”

“I think that’s the point of flirting with people, man.”

Jonas nods, steeling himself. “You’re right. I like him, and I’m going to do it.”

If Isak is going to spend this entire party wallowing on the couch, at least he can live vicariously through Jonas. “You’re totally gonna get the boy. Who can resist those eyebrows?”

“You couldn’t,” Jonas jokes.

It’s Isak’s turn to rolls his eyes. “I was young and impressionable. You can’t hold it against me.”

“Hey, dude, I was your gay awakening. If anything, I should be _your_ guru.”

Isak makes a face. “I don’t think the rules of gay guruship allow that.”

Suddenly, Jonas’s eyes widen. “Shit,” he mumbles, before hiding behind Isak. “He’s here. I mentioned this party to him, but I didn’t think he’d actually come.”

“Where is he?”

“In the kitchen.”

That’s when Isak’s stomach drops. Because standing dead center in the kitchen is Even, the hot barista he’s been pining over the past few months. It’s gotten to the point where unnecessary KB runs have inserted themselves so seamlessly into his routine that he’s stopped questioning them. He can’t go through a day without Even’s easy smile, the way he says Isak’s name like every syllable matters, the spoonful of sugar he’s started to add to Isak’s normal black coffee because _you always make a face whenever you drink your coffee, and I’d like to see you enjoy it a little more._

Their conversations haven’t progressed much beyond that, but Isak’s gathered that Even is a year ahead of him, majoring in film, and would die for a director named Baz Luhrmann. If Isak had looked up Romeo + Juliet that night, Even would never find out.

But most of all, Isak knows that Even is the most beautiful, most interesting boy in the world, and he has to let him go if Jonas wants him.

“Fuck, I think he’s looking this way,” Jonas whispers.

Even waves over to them then, entire face lighting up. Isak can’t bear to look behind him, to see that look reflected in Jonas’s eyes. It’s the face of two people who are compatible and annoyingly attractive enough to fall into deep like with each other very soon, and Isak has to watch the show right before his eyes. To Isak, Even’s nothing more than the hot, untouchable barista, and there’s no way Even could resist Jonas if they’d talked, if Jonas has been half as passionate as Isak knows him to be underneath the cool guy veneer. Jonas knows all about film and all the underground Oslo bands whose pins Even’s always sporting on his jacket. They make sense. Isak’s not like that, he’s boring, and grumpy, and his idea of culture is eating his Chinese takeout with chopsticks.  

Besides, after their first year, after what he did to Jonas and Eva, Isak promised himself that he’d never get involved in Jonas’s romantic life again. Isak’s jealousy will only kick him in the ass. He’s learned that by now.

Isak nudges Jonas’s shoulder. “He looks really happy to see you.”

Jonas squints at Even. “He does, doesn’t he?”

“Why wouldn’t he? You’re a catch,” Isak says softly.

Jonas snorts. “The Marxism really gets most people going.”

“I mean, there _is_ a lot of talk about chains—“ He gets a shove in the shoulder for that one, which, yeah, he kind of deserved.

Jonas brushes off his shirt, sucks in a deep breath. “Okay, I’m going over there.”

“Go, your boy is waiting.” Isak forces a smile–luckily, Jonas is far too drunk to see the strain behind it.

Jonas falls into easy conversation with Even and his friend, even manages to draw a full-body laugh from Even. Isak forces his eyes away from the column of Even’s throat, the crinkles around his eyes. Something ugly stirs in the pit of his stomach as Even bends his head closer to Jonas’s, their conspiratorial chuckles intermingling. It’s better this way. Isak’s never been in a relationship before in his life, doesn’t really know how to do all those caring, sweet things that boyfriends are meant to do. Even deserves someone like Jonas, who may talk a lot of shit, but is a better person than Isak could ever claim to be.

Reminding himself of that doesn’t make him feel any better, and the next time Eva stumbles onto the couch next to him, he takes the beer from her hands and downs it in one gulp.

* * *

**Jonas:** Thanks for the advice man! Last night was great.

Isak groans, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He takes one look at his phone and throws it back down on the nightstand. It’s before noon – he has a plausible excuse to ignore Jonas. It’s a rare weekend when he can drag his ass out of bed before three in the afternoon, but he has two lab reports that he can’t possibly ignore any longer. As it is, he’s in for four hours of sleep, max. If he’s lucky, there’s probably some Red Bull left. The guys know to stay away from Isak’s caffeine when he has an assignment coming up.

He’s so tired that he doesn’t realize that his feet are instinctively taking him to the KB by his apartment. By the time he finds himself face-to-face with Even, it’s already too late.

Isak’s breath catches in his throat. Even looks positively breathtaking, but what’s new? He wonders if Jonas had gone home with him last night, what time he’d left this morning, if Even’s as satisfied as Jonas seems to be.

Isak’s phone is a heavy weight in his pocket, and he’s reminded all over again how shitty of a friend he is.  

“Hi.” Even beams at Isak as he waits at the counter for his order. “How was your night?”

 _Not as good as yours, probably,_ Isak thinks bitterly. “How are you so awake?”

Even gets to work on the order ahead of Isak’s – a latte that’s more milk than coffee. Isak could never claim to be a coffee snob, but some people just don’t have standards these days. “Got home pretty early last night,” Even says.

Isak raises his eyebrows at that. Jonas isn’t exactly known for taking things slow, but he did say he really liked Even. Maybe this is different.

“I didn’t really get to talk to you, though,” Even continues.

“You _wanted_ me to talk to you?”

That forces a chuckle out of Even. “You’re my favorite customer.”

Isak’s heart does _not_ flutter at that. He shrugs. “You seemed pretty busy.”

Even’s face lights up, and shit, Isak’s prepared himself for this, because he doesn’t care, he wants things to turn out this way, but he’s not entirely ready for Even to say, “Right – I met your friend Jonas.”

Isak can be polite, sometimes, even when his heart is breaking, so he says, “What did you think of him?”

“He seems cool.” Even cracks a smile. “I’m so fucking glad he did that. Mikael hasn’t been able to stop talking about him for a week. It was driving me nuts.”

“Wait. What?”

“He and Mikael talked all night. I think Mikael’s about to make a short film exclusively about Jonas’s eyebrows.”

It takes a second for that to compute. “Who’s Mikael _?”_

“My best friend? The one who has a crush on your best friend?”

“But – “ Isak sputters. “I thought Jonas liked _you.”_

Even laughs. “I don’t think I’m exactly Jonas’s type,” he says.

“But he looked over at you, and – _oh,_ fuck, he came over to talk to Mikael, didn’t he?”

Even nods wordlessly, and Isak can feel the blush settling on his cheeks. In his defense, it’s a little difficult to notice anyone else in the room when Even’s there. That’s a normal reaction to boys like Even. He’s just pretty, and Isak is weak.

“Besides, it wouldn’t have mattered,” Even says, handing him his coffee. “Not when I’m interested in his best friend.”

For the second time that day, Isak is left gaping at Even. “What?”

Even’s eyes gleam with amusement. “What,” he repeats.

“But _I’m_ his best friend.”

“Yes, that appears to be the case.”

“You like me?”

“I thought that was pretty obvious, considering the shameless flirting, and the free coffee, and—“

Isak waves his hands, nearly spilling his coffee in the process. A smile stretches over his face, unbidden, and he must look ridiculous right now. “Alright, alright, I may have been a little oblivious.”

“Adding sugar to your coffee was going to be this _thing,_ and I’d somehow work up the courage to tell you that I wanted to make it sweeter, just like you. Because you’re sweet, you know, even if you don’t show it sometimes.” Even coughs, and if Isak squints, he can see the spots of color on Even’s cheeks too. Maybe they aren’t so different after all. “But anyway, I, uh, was never really brave enough until now.”

He bites his lip as he waits for Isak’s answer. A second passes, two, and Even’s expression starts to shutter closed as Isak searches for the right words, the words he may not even have.

Isak reaches across the counter to take Even’s hand without a second thought. Maybe he’s not the best with words, but there are a thousand other ways to show Even how he feels, starting now.

“You’re cheesy,” Isak says.

“I’m charming.”

“Sure, tell yourself that, Romeo.”

Even smirks. “I got the boy, didn’t I?”

“That’s a little presumptuous of you,” Isak says, but he squeezes Even’s hand anyway.

“I get off work in an hour. Would it be presumptuous to ask you to wait for me?”

“You don’t even have to ask.”

**Author's Note:**

> hello find me on tumblr at [bechnaesun](http://bechnaesun.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
